The New Recruit

Cloudbusting was not the only form of weather control being taught at the academy. Most graduates , as well as all dropouts, would not be placed into the actual Wonderbolts, and a lot of pegasi that made it through the first two years were prime candidates for weather control. This had been the role of pegasi for thousands of years, so even though they could do other jobs, there was a sense of pride that came with it.

That said, even if Ace did take a job in weather, he wouldn't be the first earth pony to do so. Ever since the founding of Equestria, and even before that, there had been earth ponies dictating to the pegasi what weather was needed for the crops. Nowadays, the ground team would communicate with the sky team to determine what weather was needed and where, as well as prepping the area for whatever storm was coming to reduce damage to structures. Even the unicorns were in on it.

Today, they would be creating storms. Rain was a passing grade. Wind and lightning would be better, but not mandatory. The storm would be localised to a small area, three metres by three metres. Ace had studied the day before, and Soarin, their instructor for the day, gave them a quick demonstration. He could probably manage the rain on his own in the time provided, but he could not help with the wind. He'd have to rely on Peregrine for that. They could also do the lightning with relative ease if they had time.

Only three teams could go at a time, because Soarin couldn't keep an eye on all of them. Blitz and Lash, being the frontrunners, completed the task fairly quickly and were immediately replaced by the next team, as soon as their two-minute storm had run its course.

"We should plan out our moves ahead of time," whispered Peregrine. "Since we're going last, you know?"

Ace nodded. "I actually had something for this. In that history book I showed you, there's a strategy employed by Thunderstruck that currently holds the record. Rainbow Dash broke a lot of records, but not his, and he was working alone. His wingpony had just left the academy, you see. If we had the time to prepare, I'd say let's try that, but we don't."

"I was thinking we should employ the simple method you had for cloudbusting. Except, instead of busting the clouds, you pack them into the one you're standing on."

Ace turned and glanced at him, then returned his gaze to the action in the field. "Think it'll work?"

"Trust me, there's more than one way to make a rain cloud."

Ace had never made a raincloud before. That wasn't the standard way to do it, but Peregrine would have more experience than he did. Plus, he was the lead pony, so if there was a disagreement, it would be his call.

"I'll handle the wind. Once I stop feeding you clouds, you work on the lightning. I'm pretty sure they'll let us practice before putting us through this again at a later date. We can do better then, as long as we pass now."

"Good, good," noted Soarin as the team before them finished up. "Wind was lacking, but it was there, at least. I'll give you half a credit for that. Perry, Ace, be ready."

They moved up to the line, and as soon as the storm had subsided, Soarin blew his whistle, and off they flew. They had practiced landing, so Peregrine knew that when he dropped Ace atop the cloud, he'd land just fine, and he did. Good thing, too, as he didn't turn around to check. He just started launching clouds behind him wordlessly. It wasn't until he came to the edge of the field that he turned and looked at Ace, who was having a bit of trouble packing the clouds together.

Luckily, he just needed a little bit of extra time, so Peregrine slowed down a bit to make their actions more synchronous. Peregrine would throw the cloud, and just as Ace was ready to catch it, it would arrive, and he'd stuff it into the slowly darkening puff beneath him.

Ace could feel the density beneath his hooves going higher and higher, and his hooves were even beginning to feel wet. It was like handling a towel that had just been pulled out of the pool. It was even starting to drip.

"That's enough!" called Peregrine from a short distance back. "Start charging!"

Ace could feel Peregrine starting up the wind. It was definitely strong enough. As his lead pony commanded, he begin to rub the cloud, generating static that could be released as lightning once the rain was going. He could feel that, too. As the first arcs were forming, he had the raincloud in perfect form, and a good stomp would set it off. He reared back on his hind legs an--

In the very next moment, he was waking up with a pounding headache. The lights were on too bright, and he felt like he was about to vomit.

"YOU'RE UP!!" came Spitfire's voice. "HOW DO YOU FEEL?!"

"PLEASE STOP YELLING!!" whispered Ace.

Spitfire stomped over to his side, grabbing something loud off the table before covering his ears. Whatever it was, it burned as it touched him. "How's that? Better?"

"Better."

"Let's add sensitivity to sound to that chart, doc."

"And light," added Ace. "I'm guessing you don't think those lights are too bright?"

Spitfire came into view, placing her sunglasses on his face. "How's that?"

"Better. What happened?"

She pulled up a folding chair. "You're in the infirmary. You were struck by lightning."

Ace lowered his head to the pillow. "I guess I failed that test, huh?"

"No."

Ace looked up at her.

"You passed. The lightning came from another team's cloud. They charged it backwards, so when yours went off, it didn't close the circuit to the ground. Since they weren't connected to their cloud at the time, they didn't end up shocked, but you... You were right in the way."

Ace took a deep breath.

"Outlook for you is pretty good. Yours wasn't charged much more than normal. You were just over the safe levels, so you should just be in here for a few days. A week at the most. There's a hold on your classes until you recover, and you can talk to Soarin about making up your grades. In the meantime, rest well. I'll let the others know of your condition."